FINAL COPY
ITU PLENIPOTENTIARY CONFERENCE 2014
BUSAN, KOREA
03 NOVEMBER 2014
TENTH MEETING OF COMMITTEE 6
09:30
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>> CHAIRMAN: Good morning, everyone. As we're about to
start our next meeting of Com 6, if you could take your seats,
please. Thank you.
Once again, good morning, everyone, to the tenth meeting of
Committee 6.
Now, our agenda for this morning is document ADM/62. There
will be a couple of slight changes in the order largely to take
account of the fact that we had an Ad Hoc Group this morning to
talk about the Varembé building and some of them were interested
in Resolution 162.
So we will start off our discussion this morning with what
was number 13 on the agenda, which is support and assistance for
the Republic of Iraq to rebuild its telecommunication Sector.
And the document is 79A1/9 corrigenda 1. So if I could ask Iraq
to introduce the document, please. Iraq.
>> IRAQ: Thank you, Madam Chairman. Thank you very much,
Madam Chair, good morning everyone.
On behalf of the Arab Group, we would like to resubmit a
new proposal Resolution concerning the aid and support and
assistance for the Republic of Iraq to rebuild its
telecommunications Sector. You are aware of the fact that the
telecommunications structure has been greatly affected and was
also destroyed by the war that lasted for several decades in
Iraq. And we continue to suffer because this has a negative
impact on all the aspects of our daily life, and that hampers
the possibility of launching new construction projects.
Therefore, in the course of this PP, we would like to remind you
of the Resolution adopted in 2006 by the Plenipotentiary in
order to provide support and assistance to Iraq. That
Resolution was renewed in Guadalajara.
We have not been able to take full advantage of that
Resolution and benefit from it as was necessary because it was
not activated as was needed, bearing in mind the budgetary
restrictions of the ITU and the financial problems faced by the
Union. This has made it much more difficult to attain our
project in connection with rebuilding the telecommunications
sector.
After having made various observations in the course of our
previous meetings and during previous conferences concerning
these difficulties, we come to this PP to propose that we delete
the paragraph regarding financial implications of this
assistance. Thus, today, we appear before you presenting a new
draft Resolution regarding support and assistance for Iraq in
order to help it rebuild its telecommunications sector on the
basis of a very well-established timetable and taking into
account the needs of the country.
We ask the ITU to assist us with experts that could travel
to the country and thus find out what the needs are on-site.
I would like to add to this the technological assistance
that we requested previously. And that led us to resubmitting
this new draft Resolution today, hoping that it will be adopted.
Thank you very much.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Iraq.
I'll now open the floor for any comments.
U.K., please.
>> UNITED KINGDOM: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
We support Iraq's efforts to rebuild its economy and to
ensure a peaceful and prosperous future for all of its people.
This calls for support and assistance to revitalize the sector
of any nation's economy, and so it supports it and the long-term
benefits it should bring to Iraq and its people.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, U.K.
I have no further requests for the floor. So we can take
this new Resolution as endorsed and pass it on to Committee 4.
United States, please.
>> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Thank you very much, Madam
Chairwoman.
We would like to join with the U.K. in supporting this
Resolution. Thank you, chairwoman.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, U.S.
Russian Federation, please.
>> RUSSIAN FEDERATION: The Russian Delegation supports
this and considers that this is absolutely necessary.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much to the Russian
Federation.
Iran, please.
>> ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN: Thank you, Madam Chair.
We would like also to associate ourselves with the previous
speakers and support this draft new Resolution.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much.
And Egypt, please.
>> EGYPT: Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
First of all, please allow me to express my gratitude to
the Arab Group for having submitted this draft Resolution. It
is the right of all Member States to demand support and
assistance from the Union.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Egypt.
And Zambia, please.
>> ZAMBIA: Zambia would like to associate its support to
the proposal.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Zambia.
So with that support, we will endorse the draft Resolution
and we will send it through to Committee 4. So thank you very
much for that.
We will now move on to what was agenda item 2, which is the
proposed revision to Resolution 162. And I will ask Ms. Ball
from Australia if she could introduce the document, please.
>> AUSTRALIA: Thank you, Chair. The drafting group on
Resolution 162 considered proposals from the APT, the RCC, CEPT
and CITEL. It met on two occasions, on Tuesday 28 October and
Thursday 30 October, to develop the DT. It makes a number of
changes to the Resolution including to take account of recent
Council decisions on IMAC, to highlight the valuable work of
IMAC over the past four years, and regarding the reports of
IMAC. It further says that IMAC should continue on an ongoing
basis, and the next Plenipotentiary Conference in 2018 should
consider the implementation of this Resolution.
It also "instructs the Secretary-General" to publish the
reports of the IMAC on a publicly available website. It makes a
number of changes to the terms of reference in Annex to the
Resolution seeking to clarify some of the language based on
experience over the past four years, and makes minor amendments
to Appendix B in terms of reference on the proposed process for
selection of the members of the IMAC.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Australia.
I'll now open the floor for any comment.
Spain, please.
>> SPAIN: Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
We participated in the Ad Hoc Group and we are very pleased
with the results. It seems to me that we have improved the text
and perhaps we will assist so that the operation of the
Committee will be even better.
There is one thing that since we were exhausted, we did not
have the possibility of including it, and this is something that
I bring to your attention. And if you agree, this might be an
adequate addition to the Resolution and this is a topic that has
to do with the incompatibilities of members of the Committee.
In other Committees created in other International
organizations, at times a reference is included in order to
ensure that we be impartial and independent members of the
Committee. And this entails a temporary compatibility in order
to avoid that these members be part or be participants in the
Secretariat of the Union for a certain period of time. And my
proposed text is the following, it is to include in the
Resolution, in one of the provisos there, the following words,
and concretely with the following text. "The members of IMAC or
of the Committee and their relatives, their direct relatives,
will not be able to hold any position within ITU directly or
indirectly during their mandate and up until five years after
the end of their mandate." That is a proposal.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Spain.
United States, please.
>> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Thank you very much, Chair.
I just wanted to say that we also join the Working Group
and thank Australia for their fantastic chairmanship. We
certainly are glad to see that IMAC will be held on an ongoing
basis.
In terms of the comments from Spain, I believe that may
already be included in the terms of reference, under the section
of independence. So they may want to check to make sure that
their concerns are captured. Because I think between the
section, the paragraph 9 of composition, where it talks about
"the professional competence and integrity shall be of paramount
consideration in the selection of members." And "Independence"
may "not hold a position or engage in any activity that could
impair their independence from ITU." So they may want to check
to see if that is sufficient. But that may be included.
But again, I think it sends a very strong message of the
usefulness of the IMAC to the membership.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, United States.
Japan, please.
>> JAPAN: Thank you, Madam Chair, and good morning
everyone.
Japan also supports modification of this Resolution. We
think that it's important to continue to have that IMAC work
going forward. So thank you very much.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Japan.
Brazil, please.
>> BRAZIL: Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning everyone.
We also would like to support the outcomes of the Ad Hoc
Group, particularly on the "Instructs the Council" which is not
establishing it on a trial period anymore. It's recognizing
that IMAC is very beneficial for us, and that is what we wanted
to support, basically.
But there is a part here in the Appendix B g) which still
talks about a "trial period." And sorry because I couldn't
participate in these ad hoc discussions due to overlap with
other meetings, so I don't know if it was discussed. But
perhaps we should remove the mention to the "trial period" in
the Appendix B. So I'd like to propose that or ask for
clarification from the ad hoc group if it was discussed or not.
Thank you very much.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Brazil.
Russian Federation, please.
>> RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Thank you, Madam chairwoman.
The Russian Federation on behalf of the RCC participated in
this discussion, and we fully support the option which is
submitted today to the Committee.
Of course, a certain number of issues remain, where we
would like a broader view. For example, the process of
selecting members and assessment of their activity. Not just
self-assessment, but also assessment by other members of our
organization. This could be resolved as we proceed.
The Resolution I think represents in a balanced way the
views of each person who participated in the discussion.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Russian Federation.
Australia, could you respond to the statement about B g).
>> AUSTRALIA: Thank you, Chair. And thank you to Brazil
for highlighting this point.
I understand it's in Appendix B on the proposed process for
selection of the members of the IMAC, under point g). I expect
this is just an oversight and not noticing that there was still
a reference to the word "Trial" there. So I propose that we
just remove the part of the sentence that says "And upon
expiration of the trial period" because it's no longer
necessary.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you for that, Australia.
And, Spain, I wonder if we might ask you to respond to the
suggestion from the United States.
Spain, please.
>> SPAIN: Thank you, Madam Chair.
Yes, looking at the text, it seems to me that with a minor
change a suggestion could be included in the current text, where
it refers to independence in number 16 b). Currently, it points
to that incompatibility or that guarantee of independence
through incompatibility, and it points out that it should be
within the period of three years before its designation as
member of the Committee. We would like to extend it to five
years or it could be three years.
Nothing would happen. But that would not only be before
their appointment, but also after their appointment, after the
ten years, saying within the three years prior and after the
appointment on IMAC. It seems to me that with that, that would
be enough.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Spain.
The U.K., please.
>> UNITED KINGDOM: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
The U.K. was happy to participate in the Ad Hoc Group and
thanks, Australia, for its Chairmanship of that group.
And we would like to support these proposed amendments with
the additional tweaks, I think is probably the right word,
proposed by Brazil and Spain.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, U.K.
So with those two slight edits to the document, there are
no other requests for the floor, so we could consider it
endorsed. And we will send it on its way to Committee 4. So
thank you very much for that.
The next item is a proposed revision to Resolution 58. And
this is document DT/35 rev 1. And if I could ask Mr. Darvishi
to introduce the document, please.
>> ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN: On document 35 rev 1, the
revision to Resolution 58, which is a consensus text, is
available. The additions are on the title of the Resolution and
in the resolves part. Editorially I would like to mention that
when we accept up all changes in "Resolves" 1 it comes back to
the original text as it is in the Resolution 58 currently.
We have also a "resolves further" and also in the section
of "Instructs the Secretary-General" we have some new bullets
and also in the "Instructs the Council" there is a text added to
the end of the instructs.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Mr. Darvishi.
Now I'll open the floor for any comments on this revision.
I see none. So we can endorse this document and send it to
Committee 4. And thank you, Mr. Darvishi, for all the work that
you've done on this. It's much appreciated.
We can now move on to item 4 on our agenda, the proposed
revision to Decision 5. And this is document DT/55. And I'll
ask Mr. Ba to introduce the document, please.
>> SECRETARY OF THE SESSION: Thank you very much, Madam
Chair. I don't know whether we should start with document DT/32
rev 1 or do we go through Madam Mary Blanca Rios from the U.S.
so she could introduce the results of the ad hoc Working Group
and then I could introduce the financial plan.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Excellent suggestion, because that will give
our work some very good context.
So, Ms. Rios, could you take us through the results of the
work of your Ad Hoc Group, please?
>> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The Ad Hoc Group on the
financial plan met twice. We concentrated on the text of
Decision 5, and annex B, which deals with efficiency measures.
The meeting was well attended and participated.
The main changes include a number of additions of
efficiency measures as presented by the several contributions.
It shows a very good balance between instructions from Member
States for ITU to adopt a culture of efficiency savings, but it
does not go into the realm of micromanagement. So I think it
strikes a very nice balance.
The main change in the actual decision includes two
changes. One deals with a report about efficiency measures to
Council. And it introduces a new mechanism to put further funds
into the ASHI fund.
So the only piece that we have missing is Annex 1, which
includes the details of the Strategic Plan.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Ms. Rios.
Now if I could ask Mr. Ba to introduce this document.
Mr. Ba.
>> SECRETARY OF THE SESSION: Thank you very much, Madam
Chair.
DT/32 rev 1 deals with the revised draft financial plan for
2016 to 2019. After several discussions and consultations, we
are prepared to bring to your attention a balanced financial
plan for 2016-2019. As you know, we have seen a reduction in
the contribution units. That is a reduction of 10 and a half
contributory units, which represents 13,356,000 for 2016 to
2019, as well as in the financial plan that was presented. It
took into account the new financial resources from INRs that was
7 million. So we withdraw those 7 million from the revenues.
We see a reduction in the contributory units of 13.5 million
Swiss francs.
In connection with expenses, we have a global reduction of
0.6 percent on the Bureau and General Secretariat Departments
planned expenditure for the concerned timeframe, 3,356,000 Swiss
Francs.
Because of the retirement of the -- the withdrawal of the
INRs, we also withdrew 2 million.
No appropriations for implementing INR and ITU-T.
We also proceeded to a reduction of the ASHI fund of 2
million. We had originally foreseen 4 million, bearing in mind
the new decision, Decision 5 in annex 2 which encourages the
restructuring of the ASHI fund, and thus we believe that it was
necessary to withdraw the 2 million from the ASHI fund.
We have a deficit, bearing in mind these different
hypotheses, of 13 million Swiss francs. And these 13 million
Swiss francs are to be offset by efficiency measures by an
increase in the number of contributory units, and for that we
entrust the new team in order to attempt to find new sources of
income. But also other possible revenues, with the possible
withdrawal from the reserve account upon Council decision.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the revised draft financial
plan as we submitted and as it appears in document DT/32 rev 1.
Thank you very much. And I await your questions.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Mr. Ba.
I'll now open the floor for any comments.
United States, please.
>> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Thank you very much, Madam
Chair.
I just wanted to commend the Secretariat for this excellent
proposal. I think it is very consistent with best practices,
taken other United Nation organizations where any time that you
have a disconnect between revenues and expenses, the main focus
should be on efficiency savings, followed by additional
resources such as additional contributory units, and only as a
measure as a last resort is a withdrawal from the account. ITU
is lucky that we have a reserve account that they can use to
cover any deficits. And the organization has an entire year to
come up with a suitable plan for their allocations and
efficiency savings, so we certainly commend them on that.
In terms of the removal of the extra contributions to ASHI,
as I mentioned earlier, the new Decision 5 includes a mechanism
that would put funds into the ASHI fund after the biennium is
finished. So I think we are trying a good balance between the
timing and the commitment to put money for the unfunded longterm liabilities.
I have a slight editorial question for the table. Since
the issue of INRs, it says "New financial resources - INR," can
we remove that line from the table? I think any potential
revenues that get decided in the future would be covered by the
line for cost savings. Since it was not relevant and it never
existed before, we suggest that it be taken out of the table, if
possible.
But again, thank you for all of your efforts. Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, United States.
Sweden, please.
>> SWEDEN: Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and good
morning.
We would also like to thank the Secretariat for the efforts
they have made to present a revised draft financial plan, and I
would very much like to appreciate the discussion that we had
offline with the Secretariat on these issues. And we are
looking forward to very good cooperation in the future, looking
for constructive solutions.
We have the same comments as the United States, that the
focus should be on cost savings. But of course according to the
Regulations, Council has certain responsibilities to take
certain decisions with the reserve account. And based on the
information available when they would discuss the budget for the
first two years, they would take the correct decisions. And we
are sure that the ITU will continue work in the best way and
still achieve balance in the future.
So we once again would like to thank the Secretariat for
all the efforts that they have done to develop this document.
And together with Decision 5 of the -- or the revised Decision
5, we believe this is a step in the right direction. Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you.
Tunisia, please.
>> TUNISIA: Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
I would like to thank the Secretariat for this effort which
pulls together the different views on the financial planning for
2014-2018.
As regards this document and its contents, in addition to
contributory units and other possible resources, we suggest
adding a phrase to say "Other income sources including new
financial sources," which would leave the door open for the
different regions of the ITU to quest for different -- search
for different possible sources in other meetings on this issue.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Tunisia.
U.K., please.
>> UNITED KINGDOM: Thank you, Madam Chair.
The U.K. would also like to add its thanks to the
management team and Secretariat for their work in producing this
balanced financial report. We very much appreciate the efforts
that have gone into finding a solution that provides us with
this document.
We would also like to support the U.S. proposal to delete
that line, and would note that obviously once this document has
been agreed, we -- this will take the place of the table in
annex 1, so that they both -- both documents DT/55 and DT/32
match then.
Thank you very much.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, U.K.
Brazil, please.
>> BRAZIL: Thank you, Madam Chair.
Well, basically to support this document I already told
Mr. Ba that this is an excellent proposal, offline. And
thanking him for taking into account all our concerns and also
for being there in the Ad Hoc Group and clarifying that you have
been personally committed to reducing expenditures of the ITU
and increasing efficiency. And it seems like you have been very
successful.
And I would like to thank the support from all Member
States to the InterAmerican Proposal on annex 2 to decision
Decision 5. There was overall support for almost all of them.
But we had some difficult discussions on the travel policy. But
I'm happy that Mr. Ba has shown commitment to do the best he can
to reduce travel costs and to improve the finances of the Union.
And I'm very reassured that you'll be committed to further
increasing the efficiency and productivity of the ITU.
Thank you very much.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Brazil.
Mali, please.
>> MALI: Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mali would like to thank the ITU Secretariat for having
prepared this document. We fully support -- we won't object to
it. There are a couple of points we would like to make.
First, we reserve the right to reconsider the document once
we have the French document. This is the first point.
Second, we don't know whether we can count on the increase
in contributory units. We would like to ask on what basis will
there be promises of an increase and what place will that take
in the financial plan?
Third, referring to the position of Tunisia on other
possible sources, including INR, I think that is important as a
formula. We believe it's important to finish work on this
financial plan and to think carefully about how this will be
articulated.
We thank the Secretariat for having worked hard to make
efficiencies and savings, but we have questions about the basis
for the increase in contributory units and what are the
assurances that we have that things will take place exactly in
this way? It seems to us extremely important to have a clear
explanation.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mali.
Russian Federation, please.
>> RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Thank you, Madam Chair.
We would also like to express our gratitude to the
Secretariat for the document as compiled. This is not a simple
document. It requires from the new ITU team a great deal of
effort to find new sources of resources. We are happy to see
that Resolution 5 includes a quest for different possible
sources, and we would agree with the United States here that we
are glad to see that there is indeed a reserve account in the
ITU which can also be used in critical situations.
As regards the line on International numbering, we agree
with the administration, with Tunisia and Mali, that the text
can be left as proposed, that is with the additional sources of
funds.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Russian Federation.
Japan, please.
>> JAPAN: Thank you, Madam Chair.
So first of all I would like to appreciate Mr. Ba and your
team for having to modify the plan for the budget. So Japan
thinks it's good to develop the INR for the development of the
financial plan at this time. So in the future work of ITU it
will be needed for ITU to seek priority for the project and to
reduce the use of the reserve account.
So, finally, thank you again to the ITU Secretariat for all
his hard work.
Thank you very much.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Japan.
And Spain, please.
>> SPAIN: Thank you, Madam Chair. As other Delegations,
we would also like to express our gratitude to the Secretariat
for the efforts made and for the flexibility they have shown.
We could go along with this proposal. We support the
financial plan. We trust that through efficiency savings
measures, we can obtain the resources we need in order to avoid,
if possible, having to resort to the reserve account. If that
were not possible, then it seems to me in the coming years we
should start pondering upon the situation together to see
whether we are capable of attaching better priorities, better
than what we have done so far, whether we need additional effort
or perhaps a structural reform. And it is also very important
that we pay due attention to the financial implications that a
decision might have on changes in the buildings of the Union.
All of the above, in order to come better prepared to the
next PP. As I was saying, to be better prepared when we come to
the next PP, and to continue ensuring that financial stability
that we all wish.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Spain.
And France, please.
>> FRANCE: Thank you, Madam Chair. I myself would also
very much like to thank the Secretariat for all of these
efforts. The proposal in DT/32 is something we find
satisfactory, and we would like to support this, as does Spain.
This is a plan for efficiency savings, but does not exclude the
use of the reserve account by the Council, and so we support
this. We believe that it will make it possible for the ITU to
implement all the missions given to it by the Plenipotentiary.
Thank you very much.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, France.
I'll now give the floor to Mr. Ba. Mr. Ba, please.
>> SECRETARY OF THE SESSION: Thank you, Madam Chair.
And I would like to thank the delegations that expressed
their congratulations on this balanced financial plan, which was
a collegial effort between us and the management concerning the
proposal. We see no reason not to remove the line on new
financial resources. There is no hindrance, either, to include
possible new financial resources.
As concerns the question of Mali on the possible increase
of contributory units, this is a question of savings measures.
There are increasing contributory units. We have the authority
to use these in the current situation. There is no current
certainty as to the increase, but we can refer to the past. In
2006, for example, when the financial plan was presented in
Guadalajara, after that session we had a number of countries
that proceeded to increase contributory units. I would cite
South Korea and India, for example, who doubled their
contributory units, both of these two countries, going from five
to ten units.
We can also have a campaign with respect to those countries
that have not yet taken a decision to come back with new ideas
and proposals. The current financial plan considers that if
such things may happen, the management team may use those
additional contributory units. If we fail, despite all the
efforts, it will be possible and fully authorized to use the
reserve account in order to balance the budget for 2015 to 2017
and 2017 to 2019. So that's how I would like to respond to that
particular question.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: And I'll now give the floor to Deputy
Secretary-General elect, Mr. Zhao.
>> DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL ELECT: Thank you, Madam Chair.
Dear colleagues, I tried to join Committee 6 last week but,
unfortunately, with the reasons that you can understand, you can
understand why I could not come to Committee 6. Of course last
week we had some difficult time, after we noted that there would
be some further cuts from our members, and there was some kind
of panic at the beginning of last week. Even ITU staff were
very much worried.
So I have no doubt that in the end our members will help us
to overcome these problems. I was told by my colleagues to be
patient and work hard with our members. I'm pretty sure the
people will give us plans to improve our financial plan.
But anyhow, the time last week was not very easy for most
of us. And you worked very, very hard and then you gave us a
lot of proposals, ideas, to suggest to us what measures we can
take to save unnecessary expenditures and to prioritize our
projects, to use our limited resources for the most important,
urgent matters. So all of these proposals and ideas were very -were put on the agenda of your meetings last week, and I was
very pleased to hear the progress.
Also, I did not come to you, but in the corridors and
evenings I received briefings from Mr. Ba, and in the corridors
I had a lot of contact with our delegates, and I found that the
atmosphere is quite good and people would like to give us
opportunities to manage our life with the current projects
available to us.
So I see that Saturday morning I was informed by some
delegates that compromise seemed to be already reached and we
would have just a baseline to suggest to the Committee 6 to have
text properly adapted to this baseline. So I was very, very
pleased to hear that news.
But however, still, we spent the weekend here to help us to
finalize the text, and this morning I found that in this room
everybody seems to appreciate the new document presented to you.
And everybody shows support to this document.
I would really like to take this opportunity to appreciate
your efforts. And I see that this meeting gives me a very clear
message that our members really want to show the maximum support
to ITU management, to manage our work.
This kind of confidence, more than those individual and
concrete proposals, so I take this good spirit of confidence and
support to new management. I think that I would like to assure
you as the newly elected Secretary-General that we are well
based. We are well based to take into account the guidelines
that you give us this morning, to take into account the actual
requirements from these two documents which will be officially
approved later this week. We are well based to check where we
can still save money, where we can increase our efficiency. We
will not try to stop there saying that we already have this
draft financial plan and we will not do anything in addition. So
we will do our best to meet your expectations.
Of course, those new resources of income, you know, we will
also discuss them ourselves and try to get some additional
income to support our activities.
Of course, those important INRs, we will keep close
cooperation with you and we will try to do our best to
communicate to you our proposals and ideas, and not only in the
Council only. You know, before the Council, whenever we have
some kind of ideas to move things ahead, we will communicate to
you. So that the transparency, the efficiency, basically is our
main goal. We will try to keep transparency and efficiency
always in our mind and keep good communication with you.
And the continuing support, I'm very, very confident that
with such kind of wonderful spirit of confidence you show to us,
such a strong spirit of support from you, we will be able to
manage our life with those financial plans you will approve.
And I think that ITU is in good order and I'm very confident
that ITU will be able to move further and higher.
So, Madam Chair, I just wanted to take this opportunity to
express my satisfaction of your discussions so far and also my
appreciation to all of you to help us.
Unfortunately, I have to leave because I have some other
arrangements. You know, this week is still not finishes, and
people take profit of non-sessions of plenary to ask for
bilateral discussions. So I have to find time for those people
who would like to bring resolutions to me. And some of them
have to leave early this week, so I cannot postpone that.
So, Madam Chair, once again, I highly appreciate your
leadership and I highly appreciate the good spirit of our
members. And, of course, also the critical cooperation between
our members and our secretary to take care of this very, very
important financial plan issues. And I wish you good luck and
wish you all success.
Thank you very much.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Mr. Zhao, who is of
course our Secretary-General elect.
So with that, we can consider the financial plan approved
and we can send it on to Committee 4.
(Applause)
I would also like the record of the meeting to note the
very strong appreciation for the work of Mr. Ba and for his team
and for the Secretariat and for the ITU management in pulling
this together in what was a very difficult and unexpected
circumstance. It wasn't easy. I think that they did it very
well and I think it shows the degree of trust in which Mr. Ba
and his team are held.
And I'd also particularly like to acknowledge the member
state participation so actively and constructively in pulling
this together as well.
As I said, it was not an easy job. So thank you all very
much.
(Applause)
So, moving on, the next item on the agenda is a proposed
revision to Resolution 175. Document DT/62. And I'll ask
Ms. Saks if she could introduce the document. Ms. Saks.
>> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Thank you, Madam Chair.
We met two times for two hours each, and I'm happy to say
that everybody came to the conclusion that we were happy with
the text.
There is one issue that CITEL has to approve the changes
that we made, and I believe that can be done here if there is a
CITEL representative that will take that responsibility. Or I'm
not clear, perhaps Vernita could clarify what the procedure is
on that.
Other than that, we're done. It went for translation on
Friday. And so we're quite happy with the results.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. Ms. Saks.
Argentina asked for the floor.
>> ARGENTINA: Thank you very much, Madam Chair. CITEL
supports Resolution 175, and would like to thank the work done
by Andrea Saks.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for that confirmation,
Argentina.
I'll now open the floor for any comment.
I see none, so we can consider this document endorsed and
we can send it to Committee 4. And I'd like to thank Ms. Saks,
because it was quite a complicated task, pulling those three
Resolutions together -- four. Four Resolutions together. So
thank you very much for that.
(Applause)
Now we are dealing with the proposed revision to Resolution
77 and the proposed revision to Resolution 11, which will be
considered together. So I'd ask Ms. Harris if she could
introduce those. They are documents DT/68 and DT/69.
Ms. Harris.
>> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Thank you, Chairman -- Madam
Chairperson, and good morning everyone.
Yes, the Ad Hoc Group on future conferences dealing with
Resolution 77 and Resolution 111 and Resolution 153 met. And we
have three documents, too, for your consideration this morning.
And I do believe that it's best that we take all three of them
together, because they are really kind of a package deal.
So I will go through each one, starting with Resolution
111, which is -- it's an update based on contributions from the
different proposals into the meeting, and it is basically
updating the text to include that we take into account religious
holidays of Member States, and to make sure that we check the
calendar and check with Member States before we schedule
meetings. And those of Council, in particular, for those of the
Member States. So that's for your approval here today.
Resolution 77, the group felt very strongly that Resolution
4 and Resolution 153 should be merged with Resolution 77, as the
context of Resolution 4 dealt with the scheduling of
Plenipotentiary Conferences and Resolution 153 dealt with the
scheduling of Plenipotentiary Conference and Council sessions.
So what you'll have in DT/68 is a merged document that includes
the substantial elements from Resolution 4 and Resolution 153.
This text is submitted for your approval here.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Ms. Harris. I'll now
open the floor for any comment.
I see none, so I propose that we endorse the proposed
revision to Resolution 77 and to Resolution 111 and the proposed
suppression of Resolution 4 and 153, So their endorsement, and
to be sent to Committee 4.
So thank you again, Ms. Harris. I know that that was quite
a complex task again and involved consideration of a number of
separate Resolutions. So thank you very much.
(Applause)
Now we are moving to the proposed revision -- now we are
moving to the proposed Resolution 167, which will be considered
together with a draft new Resolution on the use of hyperlinks in
ITU documents. These are documents DT/71 and DT/72. And if I
could ask Ms. Aziz if she could introduce the documents, please.
>> EGYPT: Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to start
by thanking colleagues who joined the informal drafting group on
Resolution 167. We met twice and there was some offline work
with colleagues in regards to some parts of the Resolutions.
Proposals were very much consistent and therefore the work of
the informal group was mainly to consolidate the proposals and
to eliminate repetitions.
Proposals were from CITEL and from the Arab Group and the
African Group.
The major ideas behind the amendments of this Resolution
were updating some references; acknowledging work done on
electronic working methods and the associated benefits, whether
to ITU or to membership; and highlighting the need to further
development and work on electronic working methods, to help
Developing Countries to better participate in the meetings of
the Union; in addition to highlighting the need to better serve
People with Disabilities and people with specific needs through
the development of these facilities.
There is elaboration as well on the needs and difficulties
faced in general and by Developing Countries in specific.
There was a statement that ITU original offices can play a
role in regards to helping Developing Countries to better
participate in the different and various meetings of the Union,
and it is worth noting that this is suggested to be within the
limits of the available resources.
The group has added a section to "Instructs the SecretaryGeneral" to share information about the developments made with
regard to electronic meetings, and the progress within the ITU
with the United Nations and other specialized agencies for their
consideration.
Finally, I would like to mention two points. There was a
reference in this Resolution to the role of hyperlinks in
documents, and the informal drafting group has suggested to
delete this reference and suggested instead a draft decision on
the use of hyperlinks in ITU documents generally speaking. It's
a very short decision that refers to Council 2009, and the
report by the Secretary-General on the use of hyperlinks in ITU
documents, with noting that the legal opinion in this report was
noted and endorsed by Council 2009.
So the draft may need to pick the related paragraph under
resolves in Resolution 167, and put it as is, to reflect a
broader application on all hyperlinks not only on documents
circulated in the course of electronic meetings.
And the other point I would like to mention, which is my
last point, is the suggested annex to Resolution 167 detailing
an Action Plan to develop the electronic working methods within
the limits of the financial resources. And if you would allow
me, I would mention a few points of this plan, like upgrade
infrastructure at headquarters and regional offices to support
use of eParticipation, to implement technical solutions to
extend ITU interpretation services to eParticipants. To
establish guidelines for eParticipation in ITU meetings, to
review current applicable policies and practices, to implement
collection of statistics across all sectors so as to track
trends in eParticipation. These are some points among others.
And now, Chair, we hereby submit the collective work on
Resolution 167 to Com 6 and to your consideration, and we seek
its being approved.
Thank you so much.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Ms. Aziz.
So I'll now open the floor for any comments.
I see no comments. So we will be able to endorse the
proposed revisions to Resolution 167 and the draft new decision
on the use of hyperlinks, and send them to Committee 4. So
thank you very much, Ms. Aziz, for your work.
(Applause)
Now we will move to Resolution 93, which is document DT/56.
And it was number 5 on the original agenda.
And I'll ask Mr. Ba if he could introduce the document.
Mr. Ba, please.
>> SECRETARY OF THE SESSION: Thank you very much, Madam
Chair.
Resolution 93 was adopted at the PP conference in 1998 in
Minneapolis, the US. That Resolution was established before
Resolution 41, which authorizes the Secretary-General to sign a
motivation plan for the members that were facing difficulties in
the payment of their contributions.
The 1998 Council issued guidelines, and Resolution 41 was
established at the Marrakesh conference in order to modify the
2006 and 2010 but also in the current conference.
Thus we have to delete this Resolution 93, which will be
replaced by Resolution 41.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Mr. Ba. So I'll open
the floor for any comments.
I see none. So that is endorsed and we can send that to
Committee 4.
And the last item on our agenda for this morning is agenda
item number 12. A summary of the information session on
International numbering resources, which was a session held on
31 October 2014.
So if I could ask our Chairman from Rwanda to report on
that meeting. Rwanda, please.
>> RWANDA: Thank you, Madam Chair.
On Friday, from 4:45 up to 5:30 p.m. there was an
information session and some Member States asked questions for
clarification regarding document DL 35. And the following is a
summary of the questions.
There was a question on the scope of proposal in document
34 include a telephone number, ITU-T E doc 164 numbers, with a
charge of one cent per number?
There was also a question on numbering resources, if they
are considered in the current, which number considers it in this
current proposal.
Another question was on MCC/MNC numbers, what is assigned
by ITU versus the administration.
Also, there was a question on ITU charges, if the ITU will
charge directly the operators or it will go through the
administration.
And another question was what is involved in the
maintenance of the database.
There was also a question on the enforcement mechanism if
agreed.
And how many numbers have been assigned so far, and there
is a list of these numbers.
And which INRs would have the biggest impact in terms of
revenue to the ITU. And what would be the typical cost for an
operator.
And also the original breakdown of the INRs that are
proposed. And the document 63 contains the responses, and also
there is the annex of the document DL 34.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Rwanda.
I'll now open the floor for any comments. U.S. please.
>> MALI: Thank you, Madam Chair. It's to express my
gratitude to the ITU Secretariat for having organized this
information session that lived up to all our expectations. We
had requested that a summary of that information session be
presented, and that is what appears in DT/63. So we thank the
Secretariat for this initiative.
Once again, it shows that things are being managed in a
transparent way.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Mali.
United States, please.
>> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Thank you very much, Chair.
And good morning, friends.
We, too, thank the Secretariat and TSB for the information
session last Friday and for the summary report contained in
document 63 E. The additional information provided is helpful
for delegates to understand some of the consequences, intended
and unintended, of these ill-conceived proposals.
As many colleagues confirmed on Friday, the very serious
impacts on administrations, operators and customers cannot be
ignored and should not be invited by further pursuing these
proposals.
Looking at the summary we have been provide, we would make
three observations. First, in question 3, the response begins
by stating that the ITU assigns MCC/MNCs directly. But in the
next sentence says that for geographic MCC/MNCs, the ITU assigns
MCCs to administrations and administrations then assign MNCs to
operators. So the ITU does not directly assign these resources.
Further, the response mentions that these numbers are
registered in an ITU database. That is the case only if MNC
assignments are reported to the ITU. I understand that many are
not.
Second, question 4 asks if the ITU charges operators or
administrations. The question asked in the information session
was not what the ITU does, but what it would do under these
proposals. If the ITU intends to charge for MCC/MNCs, many of
these resources are assigned by administrations. Many are not
reported to the ITU or registered in its database. So any fees
would have to be charged to administrations if they're going to
be assessed.
This will raise all the concerns that have been expressed
in detail in our last two discussions of these issues.
Finally, we thank the Secretariat for the additional
regional breakdowns for all of the INR resources, and also the
response to question 8, which recognizes that the resource
having the biggest financial impact is the SANC/ISPC. As shown
in table 5, the collection of the proposed fees on these
resources will have the biggest financial impact on
administrations, operators and customers in the Arab States and
Asia Pacific. That would also be true for other numbering
resources identified in the summary.
As we continue to receive more details about the possible
consequences of these proposals, our concerns grow. The Union
would be better served if we spent our limited time on more
productive discussions about the ways to strengthen the ITU
budget. There is no need for further consideration of these
proposals.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, U.S.
Tunisia, please.
>> TUNISIA: Thank you, Madam Chair.
Madam, Tunisia would like to move forward with this
question and that is why we brought a contribution on this
topic. What we're asking is ultimately to include in the report
of Com 6 that we include the following mention. The SecretaryGeneral is invited to prepare a suggestion to Council in order
to index INRs as described in this document DT/63, ultimately in
relation with the remarks that were made, be it by Mali or by
the U.S. It seems to me that we need further clarification on
this matter and we need to be better prepared in order to come
to a decision in Council.
Thank you, Madam.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for that helpful
suggestion, Tunisia.
Mali, please.
>> MALI: Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
In our first statement we thought that it was only a very
general comment on the report, so we didn't want to go into a
detailed presentation. We supported the proposal made by
Tunisia. We could go along with that, so that we continue
pondering upon this issue on the basis of information provided
in DT/63.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: U.K., please.
>> UNITED KINGDOM: Thank you, Madam Chair.
Any decision or further work on INRs would impact both
Sector Members and non-Sector Members. Therefore, if there is
to be any further work, it's important it's considered by a
broad representation of organizations of those who are impacted.
Without this, there is no way of ensuring that the full and
complete analysis would be completed in a way that would
identify the most appropriate way forward.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, U.K.
Russian Federation, please.
>> RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for all the information provided on this
discussion. We consider this discussion to be very useful. It
is necessary that it is continued to ultimately take a decision
at the Council on the introduction or non-introduction of
additional payment for numbering.
But this is still a path that we need to go down. Further
analysis is required before the Council can take a decision.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thanks you.
Czech Republic, please.
>> CZECH REPUBLIC: While we totally agree with the U.S.
contribution and U.K., and we would like to stress also one side
of this problem, and that is that these thoughts or proposals
evidently were not discussed with the industry, and the industry
will be the most affected part.
So when we prepare such Regulation in our country, we
really have to have thorough discussions with all of a effected
parties, that is the industry as I mentioned and also the
consumer side. So both sides were not discussed. And if
further discussed within ITU, we ask to include them into the
discussions and to considerations.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Czech Republic.
Senegal, please.
>> SENEGAL: Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
We rejoice with the quality work that has been accomplished
by this Committee. We would like to support the proposal made
by Tunisia, that aims at having a test period before we come to
a final decision of this proposal. We believe that this is a
good compromise on this situation.
That phase in which we will ponder upon this will be
followed by a whole set of tests that are important in order to
come to a decision.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Senegal.
Poland, please.
>> POLAND: Thank you very much, and thank you for the
additional information about the numbering resources.
However, we still think that this should be well justified
for the market and customers. This is for a real country and
number code. And charges are already imposed on operators. So
we think that imposing additional charges will be detrimental to
the market and the customers who will be affected at the end.
These consequences could not be ignored, and that for the
proposed approach of increasing the existing fees or on an
International number or imposing new fees is unacceptable.
So we think that we still should analyze the issue and
consult this issue with members and nonmembers, because all
members are affected on this subject.
So I -- we think that we should analyze this issue first
and then propose some approach.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Sweden, please.
>> SWEDEN: Thank you, Madam Chair.
First I would like to thank the Secretariat for this
document and the answers provided to the questions put forward
at the information session.
We fully support the views expressed by the United States,
U.K., Poland, and the Czech Republic.
However, if there is any discussion to be taken in ITU, we
also agree with the U.K. that you have to involve all the
interested parties. But we also believe that any discussions
could be limited to directly assigned numbers from ITU. And
based on the cost recovery, to cover the cost for managing those
issues, not for revenue generating.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Sweden.
And France. And then the Czech Republic and then we will
have to close the discussion. I'll close the list because we
have to make way for Com 3, which is happening in this room at
11:00.
So France, please.
>> FRANCE: Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I would like
to thank the Secretariat for this very useful and very detailed
document. As was pointed out by Mali, Tunisia and Senegal, we
could go along with the principle that we continue working
within the ITU on this matter of INRs. But in the
understanding, as was said by other Delegations, without
prejudging results and decisions that might be taken by Council.
And on the other hand that this obviously must be done by
bringing in all interested parties, as was suggested by the U.K.
and Sweden.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, France.
Czech Republic, please.
>> CZECH REPUBLIC: Thank you, Madam Chairperson, for
giving me and taking the floor for the second time.
I forgot to mention also one important aspect, and that is
that this decision cannot be taken or implemented on a
provisional basis, because it has real serious impacts and could
be final. So there is no way for some provisional way.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Czech Republic.
Given that there is a lot of interest and varying views in
the issue, and considerable requests for further information and
clarification on a number of issues associated with it, I
propose that in the report of this meeting we recommend that the
Secretariat undertake further work in consultation with Sector
Members and interested parties, and provide that to the next
session of the Council for consideration and decision, if
appropriate.
So thank you everyone. This ends our tenth session. We
have made a lot of achievements this morning and I thank you all
for that and once again for your very active attention and
consideration.
And I have Mr. Ba here, who has an important announcement.
>> SECRETARY OF THE SESSION: Thank you very much, Madam
Chair.
For those who will not be here for Committee 3, I'd like to
announce that we will have a working table on connect 2020 on
the innovations, and that will take place at 1 p.m. in room D.
Committee 3 will meet in just a few minutes at 11 o'clock. So
we can have a ten-minute coffee break.
Thank you.
>> CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mr. Ba.
And good morning.
(End of session, 10:55)
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